Wine Region: Languedoc-Roussillon - France
Grape: 50% Carignan, 30% Grenache, 20% Cinsault.
Tasting notes: Vibrant, profound fruitiness, a ripe, concentrated palate stainer with a wild side.
Story: Didier Barral is one of the champions of the biodynamic movement in France and is highly respected among his peers for his uncompromising respect for the environment in which he lives and works—meaning the entire ecosystem surrounding his vineyards. Didier’s red Faugeres, grown in rugged schist soil, displays power, rusticity, and incredibly fresh, pure fruit.
About the Winery: Didier Barral represents the thirteenth generation to grow grapes in the tiny hamlet of Lentheric, within the confines of the Faugeres appellation deep in the heart of the Languedoc. Domaine Leon Barral is a beacon of revolutionary winegrowing: shortly after founding the domaine, Didier decided that biodynamic practices were the best choice for farming his thirty hectares of vineyards. Léon Barral has pioneered numerous innovative agronomic techniques with the goal of establishing his vineyards as a self-sustaining ecosystem.
His workers of choice? A team of twenty cows, horses, and pigs that roam the vineyards during winter, grazing the cover crops while adding natural fertilizer to the soil. Without compacting the earth the way a tractor would, the animals effectively cultivate healthy microbial activity, bringing mushrooms, ants, ladybugs, earthworms, and other essential life forms, which add important nutrients while aerating the soil. This is the concept of sustainability at its finest, where the ecosystem thrives from the symbiotic relationships Didier has fostered amid the vines.
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